Olympic advice

Sunday morning my husband read the paper while I watched the marathon, he’d occasionally stop and watch if the commentator said something interesting…

afterwards he started in with “Deena works out three times a day including weight training”… he’s a gym rat and to be fair when I finally did add three 20-30 minutes of upper body work a week it helped a lot with my running…

I KNOW he is trying to be supportive when giving me hints on how I should run hills (same energy, same tempo..according to Liguori)… and I’ve explained that I have a full time job and two kids… and did I know that Colleen has a kid and SHE is 40 (hey I’m 50, still got her beat)…

and while it’s perfectly okay with me if anyone says I’m less than talented it REALLY irks me to have my dedication called into question… I’m trying really hard to balance my obsession (running, if you haven’t guessed) with the people who are important to me…

so what I really need is advice for the non-Olympic… how do you do it, I have my 12 year old as support crew on my long runs so he doesn’t sit in front of the computer all day… everybody in the house has chores, got enough work out gear(and other clothes) so I only have to do laundry once a week…

during the summer I have met with the coaches twice a week so that in two weeks when school starts up again and I can only get to the track once a week I will have a good idea what they want and how to do the workout they send me… my marathon is Nov.13, husband will be driving me the morning of – as he did last year, worked great… till then?

Did your son really mean that comment as a serious recommendation that you do the same? Or was he joking? I wouldn’t take it seriously. I know dedicated runners, and they don’t work out three times a day. I don’t know exactly how great of a runner you are, but say if I started working out three times a day, this wouldn’t prove to anyone that I was more dedicated. People would be more likely to think that I was dealing with an obsessive/compulsive disorder or some other personal issue. I wouldn’t get any faster, probably just injure myself more. From what I can tell about you, you seem to be as dedicated as you can reasonably be, and I bet it’s paying off, too. Don’t beat yourself up thinking you’re not running faster because you’re not trying hard enough if you can sit down and logically examine your life and your training schedule see that it’s already full. The best thing you can do is make sure that you are making the most of your training–doing it in the most effective way possible for you. It’ll make sense when it’s time to up the workload; you’ll probably know when/if it’s time for that.

It takes a lot of sacrifice to make it to the olympics, no doubt, and not everyone is cut out for that kind of lifestyle. To me, that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with choosing other priorities. Be proud of the other things you do well in life, like being a good mom or doing a good job at work. But whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. 😉

First things first. I have yet to hear a serious coach say that runners should do weights before they are maximizing their running. I guess if Deena is running three times a day, she is maximizing her running so, if she has energy left, she might as well do some lifting.

As for the running, of course more training usually leads to better race results. It’s no secret that results in running are directly related to training. However, Deena is a professional runner, which means her job and number one priority is running. If I was given that opportunity, you bet I’d be running three times a day. However, as with most of the rest of the world, I need to do something else to make a living. So, like everyone else, I am finding the balance that works best for me. For me, the balance is still shifted more toward running than for most people because of choices I have made. In the end, though, we all make our choices and we fit running into our priorities according to the priorities we have decided to set for ourselves. It sounds like you are fortunate to have a husband who is supportive of your running and wants to see you do your best. If he wants to help you become a better runner, take advantage of his help if you would like to. If he does not want to do so, remind him of the priorities both you and he have set in your lives and remind him that one person can’t do everything.

I am not anywhere near an elite runner, the closest tie I have is a sister who ran in HS and played basketball & softball… oh yeah, I also have a second cousin who played a season for the Cubs… and my husband is only listening to what’s being said on the tv and trying to relate it to my training…

I guess what I was try to say is that while the elites are VERY inspirational most of what they “do” in their training is of limited relevance to me… sure I know that running is their job so it makes sense that they are doing three workouts a day…

and I know that most of the rest of us have to balance our lives in order to get our training in… I guess I’m looking for fresh ideas besides “get up earlier”… five years ago a friend suggested a treadmill and while it wasn’t much fun I could get lots of miles in after I put my (then younger) kids to bed…

I’ve discussed with my boss having a more flexible schedule to try working with a coach and THAT has helped a lot… and my husband and kids keep telling me that “soon” everyone will be old enough to drive themselves places I still have to take them…

but I feel there has to be SOMETHING ELSE… or am I just getting obsessive? and it wouldn’t surprise me if my family, while being supportive, kinda kid me about working so hard and still being sorta average… but last week (at track) I ran a set of intervals at the fastest pace I’ve ever run in my life… hey, I was a nerd in HS, even had a slide rule… so Ryan, you’re right, training is the key…

I guess ideas of how to minimize our running impact on the rest of our lives aren’t bad things to throw around. The “get up earlier” idea is probably the most frequently mentioned one because it is so effective but it’s not all that works. In fact, it’s one that I personally don’t care for at all and only use on occasion.

Personally, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. First, I actually selected my job at least partly based on it being the most conducive to running job that I was offered. With a flexible lunch hour and locker rooms complete with showers available at work, as well as an unpaved rec. trail very close to work, it is easy for me to get in around 60 minutes of running on a 90 minute lunch hour. Since I am required to take at least 60 minutes for lunch, that’s an extra 30 minutes out of my day in order to get in around 60 minutes of running plus changing, stretching, and showering. When I get home from work, I change and head out the door right away. A trick that I infrequently use but has been mentioned to me as a potential time saver is to wear your running clothes under your work clothes. Saves some changing time and you can get out to run even faster, whether you are running at lunch or after work. After my run after work, I usually cook dinner at the same time as I stretch (after taking a shower, of course) so stretching doesn’t really cut into my time since I have to make dinner anyway. Doing things this way and multitasking as much as possible, I would say I can do well over 2 hours of running on 3 hours or less per day devoted to running. If I stuck with one run a day, I could easily limit my non-running time devoted to running to less than 30 minutes per day by doing things like multitasking while doing things like stretching and, if I were in a real time crunch, wearing my running clothes under my work clothes.

Add to this a wife and two children. When I get home from work my children tackle me with hugs and kisses. My two year old son cries when I head out the door – my daughter tells me that I hurt her feelings. My wife is (was & will be) ok with all my running (now that I’m starting again). I am going to take turns with them in a jogging stroller – that should solve those issues.

I tried the idea of talking about training for the 100 mile race then attempted to settle for the 50 mile race – I got the same response from my wife “over my dead body”. 🙄 Then she said I would have to run 50 marathons before she would allow a 50 mile race. Well that is the route I am going to take. In 25 years or so when I am 59 + 😯 I will go for a 50 mile race.